I can't believe it's only Tuesday! This week is dragging already! I just want it to be Halloween already (Best. Holiday. Ever.). In the meantime, enjoy a nice, considerably longer, chapter in which we discover a couple casting choices and see our favourite scientist meddle a bit...

********** What is This Feeling? **********

"Watch out!"

Jess spun on the spot to see a tall piece of the backdrop heading towards one of the tech crew. He dropped and covered his head as Becker jumped in the way and stopped the momentum of the board before it could fall too far. Letting out a sigh of relief, Jess watched as he pushed it back upright and then checked the tech to see if he was ok.

"Nice catch, Action-Man," Connor announced. In return, he received a mock glare from his friend.

"Well I've had lots of practice rescuing you, so it had to come in handy sometime," Becker replied, causing Connor's ears to turn red.

Jess giggled softly, and returned to the task at hand: attaching the pieces of backdrop together with hinges so they could be easily set up and stored.

"Jess!" She looked up to see Abby standing at the door of the canteen. "Can I borrow you for a few minutes?" Nodding, she rose and headed for her friend, unaware of the pair of eyes that watched her as she left. Abby noticed them though, and smiled to herself.

"What's up?" Jess asked as she and Abby headed for one of the labs.

"I need you to try on your costumes, so we can check the fit." Abby had proven to be an amazing seamstress, and had created most of the costumes out of pieces that the performers already owned. Jess' outfits, however, had needed special treatment, and had been constructed by the blonde's own hands.

"How are the fittings going, anyway?"

"Everything's coming along great. Emily's just getting into her last dress now, and then it's just you left." Abby smiled proudly. "As long as I can focus on them for the next few days, they'll be ready to go by the end of the week."

"Wow, way to go, Abs!"

"Thank you," Abby said as they walked into the lab. Both of them stopped short at the sight in front of them.

Emily stood in front of the portable mirror that had been brought in, a gentle smile on her face. She was a vision in silver, the gown hugging her curves and flowing out like a ball gown at her hips. Layers of sparkly fabric glittered in the light of the room as she adjusted the neckline.

"Wow!" Emily turned at the sound of the two voices.

"The neck is a bit lower than I expected," she confessed, trying to pull it up a bit higher so she didn't feel so exposed.

"It's supposed to be a little dramatic, so stop fussing," Abby ordered as she darted to her side.

"Abby, it's perfect," Jess breathed. "You seriously can't do anything more with that."

Abby beamed as she looked over her sewing job. She checked Emily's seams, the dress length and everything else imaginable. "It does fit you beautifully," she told the brunette in front of her. "Once you've got that wig on, you'll be almost unrecognizable."

"Is that a good thing?" Emily asked, suddenly a bit worried.

"Oh yeah," Jess answered before Abby could. "You ARE Glinda."

Emily's smile returned, and Abby turned to Jess to shoo her behind a screen to try her own dresses. Jess had four to try on, and decided to start with the most dramatic – her last one. She quickly pulled off her less-than-normal work clothes (because of the set construction work that day, she was in a pair of Bermuda shorts and ballet flats rather than her usual skirt and heels) and grabbed the dress.

"So Jess," Abby began. Jess nearly groaned, for she knew exactly where this was going by the sly tone of Abby's voice. "How are things going with you and our dear head of security?"

Jess did groan at this point. "Things are fine," she answered as she slipped into her dress.

"Just fine?" Abby and Emily asked in unison.

"Yes, fine!"

"Rumour has it that the pair of you had a lovely, quiet night here at the ARC on Friday," Emily put out there.

Jess stumbled on her own feet as she zipped up the dress. She poked her hear out from behind the screen and stared open-mouthed. "How did you…?"

"Please dear, you know that Matt likes to check the daily video footage for when he's off-shift. He was sitting in his office looking at the canteen video when I went to talk to him, and he showed me," Emily explained. Jess' cheeks burned brightly. "You really make a striking pair," Emily continued, and Jess turned even redder.

"Look, we've been over this," she started as she went back behind the screen to finish fastening her dress. "Becker and I are just friends. That's not changing."

"You're saying that you don't want it to anymore?" Abby asked, baiting her. When Jess didn't reply, she smiled. "That's what I thought."

"It doesn't matter what I want, it is what it is," Jess stated, stepping out into the open. Abby looked up at her and her jaw hit the floor.

"Ohmigod, Jess!"

"What?" Jess asked, panicked. "Is it that bad?"

Emily had looked over at them and her eyes had widened to the point of looking comical. "Bad?!" she asked. "Exactly the opposite! Jess, it's stunning!" Abby led Jess over to the mirror, where Jess could really see it.

"Oh," Jess uttered, gazing at the dress. It was made of a dark, shiny, hunter green fabric, with glittering black lace overlay covering it. The corset-style bodice was fitted tight and showed off Jess' figure wonderfully. The skirt wasn't as large as Emily's, but the extra fabric made it seem like a gown (complete with a small train). The fact that it was a turtle-neck style didn't detract from the fact that Jess was a knock-out in it.

"It's so out of character for you," Abby said, checking the dress as she had with Emily's. "I'm not used to seeing you in something so dark. You look positively Becker-ish," she finished cheekily.

"I own a few little black dresses," Jess argued.

"But how often do you wear them?" Emily asked, stepping up next to Jess so they could look at themselves in the mirror.

"Good point," Jess said, running her hands along the fabric of the dress.

"Turn around," Abby commanded. The two girls did so, and Abby used her phone to snap a picture of them. "This is going to be so cool," she stated as they all started to laugh.

Four of Jess' costumes, two of Abby's, and nearly an hour later, the three of them returned to the canteen in their normal clothes, smiling and chatting as they did. But all of their talking stopped silent as they stepped into the canteen.

It must have been 100 degrees in the room. Immediately upon entering, the girls wanted to start shedding layers of clothing. "What happened?" Abby asked a passing tech who was down to a t-shirt and shorts.

"Air conditioning system shorted out about half an hour ago," he said, moving to get back to work.

"Why didn't we feel it in the lab?" Emily asked.

"Separate cooling system," Jess replied. "We keep the lab areas on a separate circuit because of the chemicals."

"Connor! Captain!" Emily shouted, heading towards the mess of a set. Abby and Jess looked in the direction of her path, and stopped cold.

The two men in question were raising one of the flats, and the girls could hear someone on the other side, attaching them together. They had stripped down so that they were completely shirtless, unlike some of the other men in the room who were in t-shirts and tanks. From where they stood, the girls could see how hard they were working in the heat, as the sweat glistened on their backs. Jess swallowed hard as Abby cursed under her breath.

Emily seemed completely unfazed as she addressed them quietly, asking about what had happened, they assumed. They were shocked, however, when Matt appeared from behind the flat, dressed as his comrades were. They heard Emily stumble over her words when she saw him, and they hurried over to find out what was going on.

"Matt, what are you doing here?" Abby asked. Jess kept quiet, since she wasn't supposed to know about the chat Becker had with him a few weeks prior.

"Emily and I talked about this whole thing, and while I haven't completely changed the way I feel, I know how much this means to her. So I'm willing to help out." Emily beamed at him through her red cheeks, and Matt winked at her before nodding at Becker.

"Ok, so what can we do?" Jess asked, pulling off the red cardigan she'd been wearing to reveal a pale yellow striped tank top underneath. She turned away to put the sweater on a nearby table, and Emily and Connor both watched as Becker's eyes bore into her back with the intensity of his stare. He got himself in check just as she turned back around.

"Well, we obviously can't paint because of the heat," Becker began, looking anywhere other than at Jess. "But let's finish getting the flats sorted first."

"Actually, Action-Man, I was wondering if you and I could take a look at that single-person rig. I want to see what kinds of changes we have to make." Becker nodded at Connor's request, and then looked at Matt to confirm that he would keep working on the flats. Emily got called away by the techs working on sound for the show, leaving Matt, Jess and Abby to work on the flats.

Everything was going smoothly for a bit, and Jess felt like she was actually able to concentrate on what she was doing with Becker on the other side of the room. She, Abby and Matt had checked all of the finished flats and everything was in great shape. They were about to start on some of the additional large props, when…

"Jess!" She turned to see Connor waving her over to where he was standing with Becker and something hanging from the ceiling. "Come here! We need your help for a minute!" Squaring her shoulders, she walked over to the two while Abby and Matt watched with matching sly smiles.

"How can I help?" Jess asked as she arrived at their sides, trying her best not to stare at Becker and his lack of shirt.

"You're about the size of the person we need to lift in this thing, so we were wondering if you'd be so kind as to help us test it out?"

She was stuck. She couldn't say no to this. "Sure?" she replied, sounding more like a question than anything else.

"Fantastic!" Connor answered and grabbed at her arm.

"Wait," Becker said. "If we're going to test this, I don't want to take any chances." With that, he called over a few of his fellow soldiers, said a few quiet words, and sent them on their way. Jess and Connor looked at him quizzically, but he smiled. "You'll see in a minute," he promised.

Connor started at him, puzzled, for a few seconds more, and then shook it off as he brought Jess over to the ceiling attachment. "Ok, so basically, round the midpoint of the show, one of the characters has to rise up into the air for part of a song – "

"I've seen 'Wicked', Connor. I remember this part," Jess told him, smiling.

"Right, well, anyway, we want to make sure that this rig can do that. So what we're going to do is strap you in, raise you up, and see how it works and fits."

"I don't have to sing, do I?" she asked dryly, bringing forth a chuckle from the man she was trying so hard not to look at.

"No, just speak a fair bit and tell us if there's any trouble with it."

Jess looked at the rig suspiciously. "Are you sure it'll hold me? Abby's smaller than I am…"

"You are just about as close to the performer's size as we can get. We need to know this will work with someone your size."

"You'll be perfectly safe up there," Becker assured her. She turned and looked at him for the first time since the idea had been put out there.

"How can you be sure if you've never tested it?" she asked quietly, starting to get lost in his eyes.

"Because I wouldn't let you go up there without being sure," he replied, his eyes only on her. "Besides, I'm taking the necessary safety steps." She came out of her daze and looked at him quizzically. He turned around and she saw the soldiers he'd previously sent away returning. They were carrying large, cushioned mats between them. Becker pointed to where they were to go and turned back to her. Once you're strapped in, then we'll raise you over these mats. If something goes wrong and you fall, these will keep you from getting hurt." Jess was touched that he was taking care of her in such a way.

"That is a brilliant idea, mate," Connor admitted, looking slightly stunned that he hadn't thought of it.

"Well it is my job to keep everyone safe," Becker told him. Jess felt her heart sink a bit – of course, it was just his job.

Shaking herself out of her disappointment, she turned to the rig. "Ok, so what do I do?"

Connor snapped back into action. "Ok, we're going to try this once slowly to make sure it works, and then we're going to try it a few times faster."

"Why faster?" Becker asked, stepping out of the way so Jess could approach the rig.

"Because we'll have less than ten seconds to get the performer offstage, into this rig and back out for this part of the song," was Connor's rapid-fire answer.

"No pressure then," Jess whispered to Becker, earning a laugh from him. "So how does it work?" she asked them, examining the rig up close.

"Very simple," Connor started to explain, but Jess stopped paying attention about 3 words in. Becker had moved to stand behind her and reached in front to pull the rig around her slim waist. She felt herself gasp as his warm skin grazed hers, and tried miserably to contain the shiver it elicited. He fastened the belt of the rig at the small of her back, and then dropped to his knees at her side to check and make sure it was secure. She had to fight not to slide her eyes shut at the feel of his strong hands moving all around her waist. At one point, his fingers and thigh grazed her leg and she focused on not collapsing into a puddle at the contact.

"Does that make sense?" Connor asked with a grin, knowing full well that she had stopped listening long ago. From where they were standing, Matt and Abby were elbowing each other and trying not to laugh out loud.

"Yes," Jess squeaked out as calmly as she could. She moved on shaky legs to stand directly under the rig's ceiling attachment, as Becker slowly got to his feet, schooling his face into hiding how much of an effect the proximity of Jess' body had on him. When he'd brushed her leg, it had taken everything in him to not run his fingers along the smooth expanse of skin her shorts revealed.

As Jess moved, Becker's soldiers pushed the mats into position, and two of them (the 'hired muscle' for the stage crew) moved over to where the pulley was for the rig. Jess stood calmly and waited.

Suddenly, she was hoisted slowly into the air, her legs dangling loosely below her. When she made it to the right height, the soldiers marked the rope with glow-in-the-dark tape, and anchored the pulley so that they didn't have to hold it. Just incase something went wrong, though, they stayed right at their post, knowing that their Captain would have their heads if anything happened to the young woman currently floating in midair.

"How you doin', Jess?" Connor asked up to her.

"This feels so strange," she replied, a smile on her face as she looked out at the canteen.

"Can you breathe alright in that thing?" he asked again.

"Fine! It's tight enough that I don't feel like I'm going to fall out, but it's loose enough for me to breathe normally."

Connor kept her talking with him as the soldiers raised her up and down a few times to check the stability of the pulley and rig. By the time Jess was being lowered back onto solid ground, the constant up-and-down motion had made her a bit dizzy. As her feet hit the floor, she felt her knees give out.

Jess closed her eyes and braced herself for the impact with the ground, but it never came. Instead, a warm pair of arms caught her around the waist and steadied her. She opened her eyes to find herself looking straight at Becker's bare chest. Stunned for a second, she managed to keep her wits about her enough to not reach out and run her fingers along his skin. She finally regained her senses and looked up into his face, giving him a grateful smile as he helped her stand straight.

"That was perfect," Connor stated happily, for more than just his technical success. "Do you mind if we test it out a bit faster now?" he asked.

"Can you just give me a minute first?" she requested. "I just want to catch my breath a bit first."

"I thought you said you could breathe fine when you were up there…"

She was caught, but she was still quick. "I was, but sending me up and down a few times threw me for a bit of a loop," she admitted, only half-lying.

He nodded in understanding. "Yeah, sure. Take a few minutes and we'll try it again, yeah?"

"Sure," she answered. Becker, who had been in a trance of his own, shook himself free and helped her get out of the rig. Smiling in thanks at him again, she then headed for the door to the hallway. She somehow managed to walk to the kitchen, get herself some water, and then move into the lab where Abby had done her costume fitting not that long ago. Once inside, she leaned against the closed door, and let out a long, deep sigh as she sank to the ground.

Sitting with her knees against her chest, she counted to 100 in her head to calm her speeding heart. As she gulped down her water, she realized once again (for the second time in less than a week) how natural it had felt to be as close to Becker as she had just been. She'd never felt safer. But she then reminded herself that the security of all ARC employees was his top priority, so it made sense for him to catch her the way he had, and to check the rig so closely. He was just doing his job…

After hiding in the lab for another five minutes, she had steeled herself enough to go back to the canteen. There, she submitted herself to 5 more fast-paced tests of the rig. Connor's instructions had been for her to run from centre stage (directly under the rig) to the side where she'd be strapped in quickly, and then, over the course of another 10 seconds, casually make her way back to the same spot before being lifted gracefully into the air.

With all this happening with Connor and the soldiers, Jess only briefly noticed that Becker had returned to help Matt and Abby with the flats. This also meant that she missed the knowing glances Matt and Abby shared with each other, as well as the fairly well-concealed longing looks Becker kept shooting in her direction.